Oil Demand

Why is the demand for oil so high?
The demand for oil is so high because oil is a nonrenewable source of energy. Once it's gone, it's gone. Also we have adapted as an exceedingly oil-dependent society. The train gradually became less popular as Hollywood glamorized the idea of the automobile, and the invention of aircraft made trains seem inefficient. However, we became so dependent that it seems there are no other logical options for energy than oil. The demand is also high because we are running out of oil. Only one barrel of oil is found today for every four used.


Is the demand for oil caused more by the growing population or over-consumption?
Honestly, a bit of both. It's no secret that our population is huge. It's estimated that the world is supposed to reach 8 billion in 2024 and 9 billion in 2045. Our population today is more than twice what it was in 1960 (where it was a mere 3 billion). It's easy to assume that we can't point fingers at over-consumption, it's just that we have to supply a massive amount of people. Here's where this is a misconception. The United States consumes an estimated 18,690,000 barrels of oil per day and that's by a long shot for the rest of the world. The World Bank predicts over a billion people in developing countries will join the 'global middle class'. This means though that over a billion will be consuming more than before, closer to the amount Americans consume. Of course we can't ask these nations not to develop, but with more people with more money and more consumption, we're bound to run out.

How does Peak Oil relate to demand?
Peak oil is basically the last large amount of oil supply, or when it's at its "peak" before the supply goes down, and the price and demand go up. The peak of oil in the United States was before 1970, and according to the documentary A Crude Awakening, in the early '70s half over 1/2 the world didn't use oil. Now as the United States Oil production is going down every year, oil is as getting more expensive and we need so much to cater to our population and over-consumption.

Megan Fabry